Traditional roller coasters achieve thrill by using low speed lift hills, steep drops, 360 degree loops, and high-speed turns. In an effort to attract enthusiasts, theme parks invest significant sums for newer and more thrilling roller coasters which add additional and different effects. However, traditional roller coasters are inefficient. Tall lift hills and the length of track required for high speed runout disrupt the aesthetics of a themed environment and consume valuable real estate.
Furthermore, in the event of a failure or malfunction of equipment, there is an element of danger to passengers traveling at the speeds and from the heights normally encountered in conventional roller coasters. Finally, since the coaster vehicles typically traverse the same track time after time, riders quickly become bored with a particular ride.
The significant cost of roller coasters, in terms of equipment and real estate, has only recently been addressed by simulators which are capable of generating roller coaster effects in an amusement ride which takes up very little space. Such simulators are typically much safer than traditional roller coasters, since the passengers are never more than a few feet above the floor. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,507,647 and 5,388,991 describe simulator vehicles which can be used to simulate a roller coaster ride. These conventional simulators, however, do not have a sufficient range of motion, or simply do not impart an authentic feeling of riding a roller coaster.
Moreover, conventional simulators are as likely as conventional roller coasters to become boring because the "ride" taken by the rider is repetitive.
There are also conventional computer programs which allow a user to design, on a computer, a traversable track. In 1983, Walt Disney Imagineering (the WED Enterprises) provided to EPCOT in Orlando, Fla., a branching videodisc based interactive attraction called "Design a Coaster." The design was started with a slight drop sequence. Guests, using a touchscreen, would select subsequent individual track segments from a menu. The selections would be linked together to form a complete roller coaster track. Some segment selections would be disallowed, for example a loop or a corkscrew segment was not valid as the first selection because there was not sufficient speed developed. An additional drop was required first. Once selected, a segment was removed from the pool of potential selections (e.g., the guest could only have one corkscrew or one loop in the completed track). Once about five selections had been made, the track was completed automatically and the attraction would play a video of a ride on that track. Every possible sequence beginning with the initial segment was pre-recorded on the videodisc. There was a video sequence for the addition and evaluation (e.g., valid vs. invalid) of each segment remaining to be added to each legal string of segments. With all restrictions, the game would actually support only a very few completed tracks (i.e., two), so there were few possible ride sequences recorded on the disc.
In 1995, Apple Computer, Inc. published a computer program called "Gerbils!" which allows a programmer to build a "rodent-coaster" track, and then use a computer monitor to see what it would be like to traverse the track from the view point of a gerbil moving along the track. Similarly, Walt Disney Computer Software, Inc. has published a computer program called "Coaster," which allows a programmer to design a coaster within certain design parameters, and then use a computer monitor to see what it would be like to ride the coaster. These approaches, while interesting from a design perspective, suffer from a lack of thrills. Seeing a moving image on a computer screen is simply not as exciting an experience as seeing, hearing and feeling the ride in real time.
Accordingly, the need exists for an amusement ride which accurately simulates the visual, audible, and physical effects of a roller coaster, and which provides for much greater variation in the ride which can be taken to increase the popularity and useage of the ride.